I experienced more waves of relief than I did waves of the ocean. Mostly because I didn’t go to the ocean.

For instance, we found out over the summer that flex will now roll over from the fall semester to the spring.

The meal plan we choose at the beginning of the semester and pay for in advance, before we truly know how much we’ll spend or how many times we’ll swipe in at Winslow, won’t disappear whether we like it or not if gone unused.

We won’t have to buy all the Gatorade, canned food and granola bars Fast Track has on the shelves like we’re preparing for an annual December apocalypse.

The expiration date placed on our money has been lifted, finally.

Also, the University has taken some official steps in the right direction for the safety and welfare of students.

Title IX Awareness and Harassment Prevention Training is now mandatory – seriously, this time. No more ignoring those emails or that tab on Canvas.

Also, LiveSafe, a free mobile app designed to help reduce crime, make authorities more easily accessible and generate a faster incident response time, was launched.

In light of the instances of sexual assault and crime reported on this campus over the years, actions like these are a relief.

Now, let’s talk about common sense on a national level.

On June 26, 2015, freedom was granted to thousands of people who have been aching for it for far too long.

I guess you can say they have technically always been “free” to love who they wanted to love – the heart wants what the heart wants. No religion, law or conversion therapy can change that.

That being said, their “freedom” came with judgment, ridicule and regulations – three things that should never touch the sanctity of love.

The events of June 26 didn’t change the hearts of those still judging and ridiculing a love they don’t/won’t understand, but it does change the regulations.

On that day, the Supreme Court of the United States declared that same-sex marriage is legal – in all 50 states of our land of the free, because of the brave.

Because of the brave people who never stopped fighting for the right to love, and have that love be legally recognized, marriage is no longer reserved for man and woman alone. Love is love – what a wild notion. A wild notion now recognized by the highest court in our country.

We are, and were always supposed to be, a nation founded by law – not religion.

There is supposed to be a separation of church and state. Instead, people have been trying to legally force the separation of same-sex couples by not allowing them to marry. Not anymore.

Sure, we may live in a world where Oreos are getting thinner and some people are actually taking Donald Trump’s run for presidency seriously.